Does Bamford Get Too Much Criticism?

It's no secret that Patrick Bamford does take a lot of stick online and sometimes in the crowd. Is it justified? Does he deserve it? Why hasn't it clicked for Bamford yet at Leeds?

At the Derby home game just gone, me and my mate were sat a couple of rows in front of some guy who was just berating Bamford for basically everything he did. Completely over reacting to every mistake Bamford made, and sometimes not even mistakes. Bamford went up for a header against Keogh and won the header but in the process fouled Keogh. I applauded that because it was something that we hadn't seen from Bamford last year (especially in the semi final game against Derby). It was a bit of passion, aggression, he was being tougher and he put Keogh on his arse. As a Leeds fan you've got to appreciate that. But the lad behind me wasn't having it. It just got me thinking, Bamford just can't win with some fans.

So why is he getting criticism. Well, we paid a lot for him. Last season he spent a lot of time out injured and when he did come back he just wasn't putting them away we needed him too, and ultimately our poor conversion rate did cost us the automatics.

So far this season, his attitude has improved, but his precision in front of goal, not so much.

It's crazy because he has SO MUCH to his game. His strength and his hold up play have come on leaps and bounds, his movement is nice, his first touch and his feet are pretty good and he's good at bringing in his team mates around him. Unfortunately, he just has that one piece missing to his game, and as a striker you need to be a natural finisher. Other players have just as much missing to their game, but don't come under the same scrutiny. For example, Pablo Hernandez is horrendous at tackling, but it's not vital for him to be a good tackler, it is crucial that Bamford can finish.

So in that case, yeah the amount of criticism is some what reasonable. But after every game, along with Jack Harrison, Bamford is always the first name off the team sheet. People demanding for him to be dropped for Nketiah. Personally, I don't know about that. He was a big involvement for the first goal against Derby and worked miracles to win us the penalty. If Klich puts that away we win the game and everyone's talking about how good Bamford played - no one is campaigning for him to be dropped.

One thing I should definitely mention is that the Elland Crowd has warmed to Bamford. More so this season. Maybe due to his attitude improvement? We chant his name when he misses a chance, and you can feel a genuine will for Bamford to score. Inside the heads of Leeds fans though, is a lack of confidence in him. After he tries to lob the Derby keeper from about ten yards, you do hear a chorus of murmurs and groans before the chanting commences.

Look, we're top of the league now after 8 games with this team that we've been starting. I know it's still very early days, but if it's not broke...

I know that's more reactive than proactive, and I might be completely wrong and we might stick with Bamford all season and finish eighth. But that's all part of the fun of having opinions in football when you don't know much about football.

For now, let's just think about all the great things Bamford brings to our system that Nketiah perhaps doesn't.

Would love it if he bags a brace at QPR. Can see it now...